Listen to this post as a video on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3CtB6Cz64Q
The first principles of equitation science is the best place to start when trying to understand your horse. What is a first principle? First principles are the assumptions or concepts behind a scientific theory. Equitation science is based on a few different scientific theories, so we have a few first principles to look at. Understanding these gives you the theoretical base to understand everything else we will talk about on this channel.
Today we will look at the first four ‘first principles’. These are what I call the ‘horse principles’ and they apply to any horse. The second set of ‘first principles’, that I call the ‘training principles’, deal more with the specifics of training. We will look at the those in the next post.
Equitation science is not a horse training or teaching method. It is not copy-written like so many of the popular trainers’ methods today. It seeks to define and study the parts of the relationship between people and horses that can be measured and defined. This includes learning theory, ethology, and biomechanics. Learning theory explains how horses’ brains process information to learn from it, enabling us to train them more effectively. Ethology describes each of the behaviours that horses exhibit, allowing us to understand what is normal and how to care for horses according to their needs. And biomechanics studies how horses move, allowing us to become better riders.
Some aspects of a relationship between horses and humans are difficult to scientifically define, like ‘feel’ and ‘trust’ and ‘respect’ which are words often used in the natural horsemanship methodologies. Some people don’t like that equitation science does not address these things, but they are simply not within the scope of what equitation science seeks to clarify. ‘Trust’ and ‘respect’ cannot be measured scientifically with any kind of empirical experiment, so equitation science does not speak to it. The goal of equitation science is rather to study what is measurable and definable so we can apply it to our daily interactions with horses and make the experience more positive for both us and the horse.
Let’s get into the first principles.
Principle 1: Regard for Human and Horse Safety
Knowing how something works is the first step to using it properly. Take a kitchen knife for instance. A knife can be dangerous if used improperly. If you don’t know which side is sharp, you are likely to cut yourself by accident instead of slicing your cheese. In the same way, if we study how horses work, and how they are different from us, we are less likely to run into dangerous situations.
We know that horses are flight animals. Their preferred reaction to fear is to run away. If they cannot run, they may freeze or fight. Recognizing when a horse is scared and being able to defuse the fear or deescalate the situation keeps you safer, and helps the horse to relax.
One of the biggest parts of planning my lessons is choosing which student gets to ride which horse. Matching rider ability and personality to horse training level and temperament is very important for safety. Ensuring the horses are tacked up correctly and the arena is clear of hazards is also part of my job.
Lastly, confusion worries horses. When a rider gives an ineffective cue, or conflicting cues, the horse becomes confused and this can build up into frustration and unwanted behaviours like aggression, ears back, biting, kicking, bucking, and many more. The goal of every rider and horse lover therefore should be to understand better how horses work from the inside out, giving the horse a sense of security, keeping both horse and rider safer.
Principle 2: Regard for the Nature of Horses
Because horses are horses, they have certain social and welfare needs that we need to do our best to meet.
They require companionship of other horses. They require the ability to forage for food, and to move around. They need to create herd structure (which is very far removed from the old concept of dominance and submission—more on that in another video). And they display pain in very subtle ways that we need to learn to understand.
Our nature is quite different from that of horses, which means they can easily perceive us as a threat. Learning how to move and interact around horses helps to bridge the gap between our two natures.
Principle 3: Regard for Horses’ Mental and Sensory Abilities
Horses are different from humans. They think differently. They have different instincts. They interact with one another differently than they interact with us. Treating a horse like a horse and not like another person is vitally important for their welfare.
When people start thinking that a horse is just another human, they start expecting more of the horse than it is capable of. They begin to expect the horse to read their mind, or to ‘know better’. They begin to attribute their own emotions to the horse, sometimes wrongly attributing unwanted behaviour caused by confusion or pain to the horse ‘being silly’ or ‘trying to annoy me’. The problem with thinking this way is that your reaction to a horse’s behaviour will be shaped by what you think caused it. If you think the horse is trying to annoy you, you might feel justified in punishing it with a slap. What if it was displaying pain-related behaviour? Then your slap could actually escalate the horse’s behaviour rather than put an end to it. If you think your horse should ‘know better’ than to paw at the ground, the onus is no longer on you to make sure that he understands your training. If the unwanted behaviour stems from incomplete training of the ‘stop’ response, then it is your training at fault, and not the horse. You can see how treating a horse like a human can lead to misunderstandings, which can be dangerous.
Treating the horse as less than a horse is equally dangerous. Horses are very intelligent. Assuming that ‘it’s just a dumb horse’ could lead the rider to harsher than necessary, which could cause the horse to begin to shut down, or learn to be helpless. The concept of dominance in horse training is very outdated and should not be used.
The best way to arrive at an accurate conclusion about a behaviour is to ask, ‘what happened?’ And describe the exact physical motions that occurred. For example, if there is a loud noise and your horse spooks, you could say, ‘my horse doesn’t like noises,’ which will leave you at a loss for a solution, as noises happen all the time. Instead, try, ‘there was a loud noise and my horse sped up three steps and turned left sharply two steps.’ Now the solution is obvious: the horse sped up and turned when you didn’t ask, so you simply slow down and turn back.
Principle 4: Regard for Current Emotional States
Understanding your horse’s level of arousal is very important in training. Think of arousal as a scale of 0-9. If your horse is asleep, his arousal level is 0. He’s not thinking about anything, and motivation to do anything is lacking. If it feels like you are flying your horse like a kite on the end of your lead rope, he’s at arousal level of 9. There is no way he can pay attention to you, and is unlikely to learn anything positive. Too much or too little arousal, and learning a task is very difficult. Recognizing where the horse is at the moment and being able to change your behaviour to bring your horse up or down the scale is an important training tool.
Based on their interactions with humans, horses begin to develop either a positive emotional state or a negative one. A positive state is like optimism, where a horse expects things to turn out well and is interested in interacting with humans. A negative state is like pessimism, where the horse expects the interaction to be confusing or unpleasant, and tries to avoid interacting with humans.
Every interaction a horse has is adding to his emotional file. The more positive outcomes the better. These facts can tempt some riders to be too ‘soft’ as they try to make the horse like them. Horses, however, find consistency and predictability to be positive, so when riders begin to ‘bend the rules’ and let the horse do unwanted things, the horse actually experiences negative emotions due to the inconsistency.
Being firm but fair is a good way to think about contributing to a horse’s positive emotional state.
Conclusion
Allowing these four principles to permeate how you think about and interact with your horse will change your relationship for the better!
Clairety Horsemanship 